AP English Literature and Composition – Kristy Seidel

This session AP English Literature and Composition – with Kristy Seidel is offered IN PERSON during Week 2: June 22-25, 2026 at Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia.

Meet the College Board Consultant for AP English Literature and Composition

Kristy Seidel is a current teacher at Suncoast High School in Riviera Beach, FL, is the founder of teachingrhetoric.com, and is the co-author of the upcoming The Norton Guide to AP Language: Writing & Skills (W.W.Norton). She is currently a College Board consultant, and has served in various leadership roles at the AP Summer Reading, most recently serving as the Exam Leader for the AP English Language and Composition Exam. She also teaches in the International Baccalaureate program and serves as the examiner for the IB English Literature exam. She has taught for 21 years, with a variety of experience in rural, urban, and suburban student populations as well as diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. She currently holds a Master of Arts in Literature and adjuncts at Palm Beach State College. In her free time, Kristy enjoys judging competitive cheerleading, watching college football (Go Dawgs!) and traveling as much as possible.

APSI Session Description

In this Walton APSI, the week will offer teachers a wide range of highly effective strategies for inspiring students to develop their voice as writers and critical thinkers.  Because students have an array of experiences and understandings, it is critical to take them “from what they know to what they don’t know” in a way that will help them create insightful understandings of literature.  By grounding their literary experiences with some deep, universal tensions, the students can engage with complex poetry, drama, and fiction with a bit more confidence and understanding. In short,  offering frames of understanding can help students “accelerate their insight” into meaningful works of literature.
Teachers will be offered a wide variety of approaches for assessing student writing and methods for assuring that students are held accountable for content/skills while also fostering a healthy work culture for both students and instructor.  As for exam specific direction, we will work with strategies for both the FRQ and MC questions that are direct and profitable for the students.
Furthermore, we will explore how to best utilize the CED and AP Classroom so that students can benefit from the content, and the instructors can make targeted adjustments to their lessons.
And finally, your consultant will share decades worth of materials for teaching  poetry, drama, and fiction.  We hope the week will allow teachers to reconnect with the ideas and passions that drove them to be English Majors and inspired them to become teachers.

2026 WaltonAPSI / AP English Literature & Composition / Kristy Seidel